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Adjectives
Adjectives
• An adjective describes the person, thing etc.,
which noun refers to. We use adjectives to say
what a person, etc. is like or seems like.
Adjectives give us information about quality (a
beautiful dress), size (a big car), age (a young
man), temperature (cold evening), shape (a
round table), colour (blue eyes), origin (a
Japanese camera).
• Many adjectives can answer the question What
….. like?
The adjective may have two
functions in a sentence:
• It can be used as an attributive adjective
when it precedes the subject. (e.g. The
black boy said to the white boy…)
• It can be used as a predicative adjective
when it follows the subject or the verb.
(e.g. Life is short.) Some adjectives can be
used in this position only, e.g. afraid,
asleep.
Names that behave like
adjectives
• Names of materials, substances, etc.
resemble adjectives. It’s a cotton dress.
It’s a summer dress. Words like cotton,
summer do not have comparative and
superlative forms and cannot be modified
by very.
• Some other names for materials have
adjectival forms: gold/golden, lead/leaden,
silk/silken/silky, stone/stony. Adjectival
forms has a metaphorical meaning (‘like
Names that behave like
adjectives
• Some other names for materials have
adjectival forms: gold/golden, lead/leaden,
silk/silken/silky, stone/stony. Adjectival
forms has a metaphorical meaning (‘like
…’). E.g. a gold watch = watch made of
gold; golden sunset = sunset which is like
gold
Adjectives
• Most present participles can be used as
adjectives: breaking glass, frightening
story
• Many past participles can be used as
adjectives: a broken window, a locked
door
Adjectives
• The + adjective: e.g. ’the rich’
• Adjectives like the following are used after
’the’ to represent a group as a whole: the
blind, the deaf, the dead/the living, the
poor. These adjectives are followed by a
plural verb.
• Sometimes after ’both’, ’the’ can be
dropped. E.g. Both young and old enjoyed
themselves at the party.
•
Formation of adjectives
• Some words function only as adjectives
(e.g. tall)
• Some words function as adjectives or
nouns (e.g. cold)
• Many adjectives which are related to verbs
or nouns have a characteristic endind
(suffix): truthful, enjoyable
• Present participle –ing forms often function
as adjectives: running water
Formation of adjectives
• Some irregular past participles function as
adjectives (e.g. a broken glass)
• Prefixes added to adjectives generally
have a negative effect (e.g. disagreeable,
uninteresting)
Formation of adjectives
• Compound adjectives formed with
participles:
• -present participles: long-suffering, longplaying, time-consuming
• -past participle: candle-lit table, selfemployed author, tree-lined avenue,
• - ed words that look like participles
although they are formed from nouns:
cross-eyed, open-minded, slow-footed,
hard-hearted, quick-witted
Compound adjectives of
measurment
• Cardinal numbers combine with nouns (usually
singular) to form compound adjectives relating to
time, measurement: a three-year old man, a twoday conference, a six-foot hole, a $50 dress, a
ten-minute walk
• Many compounds can be formed with well and
badly: well/badly -behaved, - built, - done, - paid,
etc.
• Ill and poorly combine with some past
participles: -educated, -informed, -paid
Gradable and non-gradable
adjectives
• An adjective is gradable when we can
imagine degrees in the quality referred to
and so can use it with words like very, too
and enough. E.g. very good, too good,
less good, not good enough.
• An adjective is non-gradable when:
• -we cannot use it with very, too
• -we cannot make comparative and
superlative: unique, medical
Adjectives
• Common pairs of –ed/-ing adjectives are:
amazed/amazing, bored/boring,
excited/exciting, interested/interesting,
pleased/pleasing.
• Similar pairs: upset/upsetting,
impressed/impressing, delighted/delightful
• -Adjectives ending in –ed often combine
with personal subjects and those ending in
–ing often combine with impersonal ones.
Adjectives
• E.g. The story excites me. → I am excited
by it. → It is exciting.
• -Most -ing adjectives can also be applied
to people.
• E.g. Gloria was quite enchanting to be
with.
•
Gloria was quite enchanted.
Comparison
• There are three degrees of adjectives:
positive (My brother is tall.), comparative
(My brother is taller than my sister.) and
superlative. (My brother is the tallest of all
of us.)
Other types of comparison
• Comparison of equality
• Adjectives in the positive degree with as ...
as denote an equal degree.
E.g. X is
as old as Y.
• In the negative sense first as may be
replaced by so. E.g. X is not so .... as ...
Other types of comparison
• -Comparison of superiority
• -Adjectives in comparative and superlative
denote a higher degree.
• E.g. She is nicer than her sister. She is
the nicest of all girls in the school.
• -Comparison of inferiority
• Adjectives with less and least denote a
lesser degree, an inferiority.
• E.g. This book is least interesting of all the
books I have read.
Irregular comparison
• ill – worse - the worst
• little – less-the least
• much/many – more –
the most
• far – farther/further –
the farthest/the
furthest
• near – nearer – the
nearest/the next
• later – later/latter –
the latest/the last
• old – older/elder – the
oldest/the eldest